“Common sense could not understand that it was possible to exterminate tens and hundreds of thousands of Jews,” —Yitzhak Zuckerman, a leader of the Jewish resistance in Warsaw (US Holocaust Memorial Museum)

Above is a picture of a pile of corpses in the Buchenwald concentration camp after liberation in May of 1945. If you have the stomach for it, you can search for pictures of a late-term aborted baby. One is thought of as a horrible crime against humanity and the other is a legally protected right. Yom Ha Shoah, or Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, was Wednesday, April 15th. PBS had some very good TV specials in remembrance of what happened 70 years ago. While watching some of these programs my wife and I were mystified as to how it was possible for an entire class of people to have absolutely no rights, to be thought of as disposable. It is difficult for us to comprehend how the Nazis were able to accomplish this in a civilized culture. What did people know at the time? Were people aware of what was happening? If they knew about it, why wasn’t there more resistance? If they didn’t know about it, how were they deceived?

“The (Nazi) regime practiced a propaganda of deception by hiding specific details about the “Final Solution,” and press controls prevented Germans from reading statements by Allied and Soviet leaders condemning German crimes.” (From ‘Deceiving the Public’ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.)

A thought occurred to me: the same thing is happening today in 2015. Once again, an entire class of people have no rights and are considered disposable. The difference is that today, a majority of people are aware of what’s happening. But, like 70 years ago, I believe that many people are again being deceived by a “propaganda of deception.” Only this current “propaganda of deception” is perpetuated by the media and politicians. Expectant mothers are deceived and victimized by influential politicians and an agendized media; they and their babies are the casualties of a new holocaust.

Consider the “press controls” exercised by our media during the Dr. Kermit Gosnell murder trial. In her USA Today op-ed piece, Kristen Powers questioned why there was such media hysteria when Rush Limbaugh verbally attacked Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke but “accusations of babies having their heads severed — a major human rights story if there ever was one — doesn’t make the cut.” Conor Friedersdorf, staff writer at The Atlantic, questions why, in Gosnell’s medical office, the fact that “white women were attended to by a doctor and black women were pawned off on clueless untrained staffers” was not considered newsworthy. Since when is such a blatant example of racial prejudice not worthy of media attention? If this happened anywhere else other than in the office of an abortionist it most surely would have been front-page news. Why all the secrecy?

The Nazis also prevented the public from details of their “Final Solution” the same way that our media and politicians ‘protect’ the general public from the details of what happens to millions of children during abortion procedures. The Nazis effectively used deceptive euphemisms to hide their murderous intentions:

“German officials stamped ‘evacuated,’ a word with neutral connotations, on the passports of Jews deported from … Germany and Austria to the ‘model’ ghetto at Theresienstadt, near Prague, or to ghettos in the East. German bureaucrats characterized deportations from the ghettos as ‘resettlements,’ though such ‘resettlement’ usually ended in death.” (See above)

German officials used words like “evacuated” or “resettlement” which usually meant starvation or gas chamber. Politicians today also use words with neutral connotations like ‘reproductive rights,’ ‘terminate a pregnancy,’ and ‘choice.’ When Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks of ‘reproductive rights,’ she may be referring to the saline injection procedure where “The doctor inserts a long needle through the mother’s abdomen and injects a saline solution into the sac of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. The baby is poisoned by swallowing the salt and his skin is completely burned away. It takes about an hour to kill the baby.” (prochoice.com). When Hillary Rodham Clinton mentions “terminating a pregnancy,” she could be referring to the dilatation and curettage procedure, where the baby is cut into pieces and scraped out through the cervix. When our president uses the word “choice,” he could mean the suction aspiration procedure, where the child is torn into small pieces by a powerful vacuum, sucked through a tube into a bottle, and discarded.

Seventy years ago the Nazis used the words “evacuated” and “final solution.” Today politicians use the words “choice” and “reproductive rights.” Do they mean the same thing? They both result in the death of millions of innocent people. So for the people to whom these words were intended – 70 years ago to the Jews, and today to the unborn – these words definitely do mean the same thing.

If Hillary Clinton decided to exercise her “reproductive rights,” would she be at peace with her decision to have her daughter Chelsea poisoned, then burned to death with a concentrated saline solution? Would Barack Obama be at peace if Michelle exercised her “choice” to have their daughter Malia torn into small pieces, sucked into a jar, and thrown away with bio hazard trash? I wish I could have the opportunity to ask them that question.

Surely what happened 70 years ago could never happen again today, could it? We live in a much more civil and enlightened culture. Could it ever be possible for a large segment of our society to be sanguine with the knowledge that the law of the land permits the mass destruction of human beings? It has already happened and a large number of people have indeed been fooled by a “propaganda of deception.”

Here’s the story; the other day Linda and I received our Ursuline Sisters magazine in the mail. The Ursulines have such a rich tradition of serving the needs of people in the Cleveland Diocese since 1850. However with a median age of 75 one wonders how long the sisters will be able to continue to minister in our diocese. This particular issue included an interview with Sr. Erin Zubal. At age 31 Sr. Zubal is the youngest Cleveland Ursuline. She is also Beaumont School’s athletic director. Sr. Zubal said that the number of sisters serving in schools today is far fewer and that they don’t wear habits. “Sisters don’t stand out in appearance,” she notes. “The visual ‘pop’ is gone. The ‘mystery’ of how we live is gone. Our lives are no longer hidden behind a wall, a convent door or a habit. We are living like everyone else, doing the best we can on behalf of the Gospel.” Sr. Zubal believes that the visual ‘pop’ of today’s Ursulines is apparent in the way that they serve mankind. She also believes that the Ursuline legacy will live on with or without Ursuline presence.

However, we know of several women’s religious orders which still have the visual ‘pop’ of the habit. The women in these orders also do the best they can on behalf of the Gospel. They are in classrooms, food pantries, drug treatment facilities, and battered women’s shelters.. The big difference between the Ursulines and the orders which still have that visual ‘pop’ of the habit is that the ‘habited’ orders are flourishing. Can it be that simple? Can it be that the reason these orders are growing is because the women in these more orthodox orders wear the traditional habit, live in community – in monasteries or convents – and share time between communal prayer and community service? I’m not a theologian and may be wrong but in my opinion (for what it’s worth) I believe it goes deeper than the chosen dress of different orders. Ursuline President Sr. Susan Durkin gives what I think is a more plausible reason as to why the Ursulines are moving toward extinction. In the magazine she stated “Vowed religious life is undergoing a major change, and our Ursuline life is no exception. We are carefully reading the signs of the times and discerning what God is calling us to do and to be in our world today and in the future.” Like I said, I’m no theologian, however in my experience and from what I know about history, institutions that change with the times rarely survive. I believe that young people today are attracted to authentic, unmovable truth and not the shifting fashions and trends that slavishly follow the “signs of the times.”

Today’s younger generation have witnessed the societal carnage brought about by the seductive lies that my generation bought in the 60s and 70s which told us that we can live as we please without any consequences. Young people thirst for unchanging truth and radical love. The definition of the word radical includes ‘of or going to the root or origin; fundamental.’ G.K. Chesterton once said “People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy.” The more society becomes secularized, the more radical these traditional orthodox orders become. During His public ministry Jesus was considered a radical, and I believe this is why young people are attracted to these radically traditional orders.

So does the religious garb (visual ‘pop’) of these orders matter? I’ll finish with two stories which answer the question for me. Several years ago our family was visiting our oldest daughter who was doing missionary work with an order of Franciscan friars in the South Bronx in New York. One evening our family was walking with some of the Friars in an area that was probably not advisable to be in after dark if you were alone or unarmed. But as we passed one person after another in this rough area of the South Bronx we heard ‘hey Father, how ya doin?’ and ‘good to see ya, Father’ and ‘God bless ya, Father’ and so on. The Friars were immediately recognized as friend, helper, and advocate. And they were not armed with a kevlar vest and side arm, just a grey robe with a white rope tied around the waist, sandals and that awesome beard. At another time our family was walking on Coventry Blvd. in Cleveland Hts. with our oldest daughter who is a Franciscan Sister, TOR. The TORs wear the grey robe, white cord and sandals. It was summer and as we approached a group of young ladies I noticed that they all just kind of looked curiously at our daughter as they walked by. But one of the girls adjusted her skirt a bit so that it was a little less revealing.

Wasn’t it St. Francis who said “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words?

In my humble opinion “I WILL WAIT” by Mumford & Sons is one of the best love songs out there. It’s a powerful song about how a REAL man sacrifices and controls himself for… his beloved bride. My favorite line in the song goes like this;
“SO TAME MY FLESH / AND FIX MY EYES / A TETHERED MIND FREED FROM THE LIES”
In that line are the words “TETHERED” and “FREED” which represent the awesome Paradox of Catholicism. To tether someone means “To restrict with a tether” (rope or chain). To free someone means “To release or rid from tyranny, to untangle.” How can something that’s tethered be free? Doesn’t make sense, or does it? The world’s idea of freedom is that there should be no restrictions on me and that I should be able to do whatever I want. But as we know this only leads to the “tyranny” of sin, undesired consequences and heartache. In Her wisdom our Mother Church protects us with loving arms to keep us from harm; these loving arms are called Catholic doctrine and discipline. As long as we stay within the loving arms of our Mother Church we’re truly free to enjoy all the wonders of life, but if we push through our Mother’s arms we become entangled in things that hurt us because we are no longer “freed from the lies” of Satan. Make sense?
G.K. Chesterton said that “Catholic doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground” and inside these playground walls is where true freedom and authentic joy are found. The next time you’re near a playground with children playing listen for the laughter and screams of delight. Though the children are “tethered” by the playground fence, they are “freed” from the dangers of automobile traffic or abduction, so inside of those playground walls the children are free to be whoever they want, joy overflows and imagination runs WILD!
Enjoy the video; these guys really do kick some ass on stage.

Doing the same thing over & over and expecting different results, or demanding something that is harmful to us; madness or insanity. Why do we continually do this to ourselves? It’s been going on for t…housands of years, you’d think we’d have learned by now. We demanded to worship a freaking golden calf instead of the Author of Love (Ex.32). We demanded a king to enslave us instead of the Giver of authentic freedom (1Sam.6-22). We demand to absolve ourselves of any responsibility for any of our actions & enslave ourselves to inevitable consequences, “The Internal Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a research arm of the World Health Organization classifies estrogen-progestin hormonal contraception as Group 1 Carcinogens. This group of cancer causing agents also includes cigarettes & asbestos.” So what, I demand to put this into my body! MADNESS!!
This video really has nothing to do with the previous words, cept the title & I like the song, also, Muse’s Matthew Bellamy hits some amazing notes.

In 1982 Peter Gabriel released a solo album titled Security. On that album is a song called Wallflower, which is about the treatment of political prisoners in Latin America in the 1980s. Gabriel chose that song to appear on his latest release, New Blood, where he sings with an orchestra. His phenomenal voice together with the haunting melody of that song make it incredible to experience. Google the lyrics, read along, watch, listen & enjoy!

To me the song parallels the self-imposed prison where many of us find ourselves today, particularly if we’ve fallen under the influence of ‘the world.’ Some of the lyrics from Wallflower are:

“They put you in a box so you can’t get heard,
They feed you lies
Loaded questions from clean white coats
They tell you how to behave.”

THEY put you in a box, THEY feed you lies, THEY tell you how to behave. Who the hell are THEY? For the people in Latin America THEY are political thugs who imprison those who think differently than they do. However, for many people today in free, wealthy, industrialized nations, THEY are us: We who have departed from who we truly are, and who now espouse and follow a hedonistic ideology which places pleasure as the supreme good. An ideology which is easier, more seductive, and as old as humanity. We search for freedom down the wrong path while we build our own cages. Blessed John Paul II once said “The Ten Commandments are the law of freedom: not the freedom to follow our blind passions, but the freedom to love, to choose what is good in every situation, even when to do so is a burden.”

There’s less resistance in following our blind passions, but we inevitably end up imprisoning ourselves. “Hedonism is not an expression of freedom, it is a passport to the enslavement of a thousand addictions” (Matthew Kelly). For instance, we insist on the right to violate the sixth commandment so that we are “free” to have indiscriminant sexual encounters. But we then enslave our bodies to cancer causing hormonal contraceptives and mess up the environment. St. Vincent de Paul once said “He who allows himself to be ruled or guided by the lower and animal part of his nature deserves to be called a beast rather than a man.” Beasts belong in cages.

But there is always hope, Gabriel sings, “Hold on, hold on…Let your spirit stay unbroken, may you not be deterred…They do not see your road to freedom, that you build with flesh and bone.” John Paul II’s words dovetail beautifully with Gabriel’s. “Only his death and resurrection represent true liberation from evil and death.” The road to freedom was already built with HIS flesh and bone.

Once upon a time there was (and still is) a Brilliant Creator. This Brilliant Creator, otherwise known as BC, created many wonderful things, all of them “very good.” BC had a conversation with two local news paper commentators named Rene Brueberg, otherwise known as RB and Carrie Smith, CS. Oh yes, the Evil One, EO, would chime in the conversation every now and then. The conversation centered on the most magnificent and beautiful of BC’s creations, which are Human Beings, HBs. This conversation took place many thousands of years after BC created his masterpiece. BC, RB, and CS were all very concerned about the condition of HBs and the world in which they live. With a few exceptions they all agreed on what the solutions should be to solve the problems plaguing HBs. The EO really didn’t care much. In fact the EO was quite content with confusing rhetoric and clouded issues. Anyway, the conversation went something like this.

BC to RB and CS: My dear children, so many of my HBs are mired in moral confusion today. I desperately need your help. With your powerful voices you can reach so many of my beloved HBs. Your stories of love and compassion, struggle and triumph are very encouraging. But I need more from you. To help save my beloved HBs I need you to go much deeper with a message of love so radical that, sadly, some will not accept it. This message is our only hope. For my HBs are like none other of my creations, so strong yet so frail, so insightful, yet so blind, capable of such unspeakable horrors, and at the same time of such unimaginable love and kindness. The wellbeing and dignity of my HBs must take priority over everything in life.

CS: Even our reproductive freedom?

EO: A legitimate question my dear!

BC: Yes my child, the entire world is at stake.

EO: Hogwash!

BC: You see when I created my precious HBs I gave them a set of loving parameters to keep them out of trouble and save them much heartache. Sort of like an instruction manual on how to behave. I call it Natural Law, or NL. Every HB instinctively knows about my NL, because I wrote it on their hearts. Though some choose to ignore it, and that hurts me deeply.

EO: Wimp!

BC: I love my HBs so much that I gave them free will. But because my two original HBs chose differently than I would have liked them to choose, things are not always as they should be. So it is more important than ever to follow my NL. So important that I even sent my Only Begotten Son, OBS, to reiterate and clarify my NL. Many HBs loved my OBS and took his words to heart. Some HBs thought he was crazy, others were confused and frightened by his message. And some HBs were so full of jealousy, hatred, and pride that they actually killed my OBS. I love my OBS so much that they actually killed me as well.

EO: My kind of HBs!

RB: How can we help?

BC: My child, as you know my OBS gathered 12 HBs and gave them the command to spread my radical life-saving message to all people throughout the world. We chose an ordinary working class HB named Peter to lead this rather simple band of HBs, though sadly one of them strayed. After my OBS was killed he defeated death, returned to those imperfact HBs and gave them the Holy Spirit, HS. Through the strength of us three as one, Myself, my OBS, and the HS, those 11 HBs started my church, MC. They even died for MC. Today, HBs hear my voice, MV and that radical life-saving message through MC, but only if HBs want to. I don’t force MV on any HB.

RB: But BC, today many HBs claim that your church is in Rome and led by another HB who is the successor of Peter. I don’t necessarily believe that. How can this HB have the ability to speak for you? How on earth can this HB in Rome possibly possess enough wisdom to know what’s best for HBs all over the world? For me the real Church is in the pews, not inRome.

BC: My beautiful child, I am indeed in the hearts of each one of my HBs in the pews. I am also in the hearts of those who are not in the pews, and in those who are in Synagogues, Mosques, thatched huts, huge mansions and behind prison walls. But not all HBs listen to their hearts and many misunderstand MV. So MC is always there being MV and inviting all HBs to the table for spiritual nourishment and compassionate direction.

CS: Considering the circumstances I think that we HBs are doing a pretty decent job of getting by today. I mean there’s always room for improvement, but I think that through our own intelligence we have done pretty well at interpreting your word and addressing some very pressing issues.

BC: My lovely child, all HBs are a part of me and I am in all HBs. Nothing breaks my heart more than to see my precious HBs suffer. There is too much suffering today, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Most of it is caused by HBs not listening to MV and disregarding my NL. When my precious HBs make destructive choices it hurts me deeply, and part of me dies. THAT DREADED DAY IN THE GARDEN!

EO: Ha!

BC: You see my children, every kind of evil from the beginning of time is born out of a deliberate separation from me, for I am pure love. This permits HBs to see themselves and other HBs as less than what I made them to be, which is the summit of my creation and the center of my love. Every act of lust, deceit, greed, and cruelty, when done to a fellow HB, whether directed to one individual, or an entire race, stems from the fact that HBs have moved themselves so far out of my loving reach that they can no longer recognize their innate beauty and worth.

CS: HBs have always been cruel to each other throughout history. But I think that today through the intelligence that you have given us we’ve evolved to the point where we HBs have been able to handle some of the most important situations pretty well ourselves. I’m talking about major decisions like life and death. I mean we HBs can also decide who should live and who should die, right? You shouldn’t always be burdened with those important decisions. So we’ve developed our own laws which permit us to make those decisions for ourselves. That’s a step in the direction of a more compassionate society don’t you think? Don’t you think that humankind is wise enough to decide who should live and who should die?

EO: You go girl!

BC: (a large tear slowly begins to form in BC’s magnificent eye) My dear Carrie, more than any other, that kind of reasoning has led to more misery and death than anything else. More wars fought, more starvation, disease, and death has been caused by that kind of reasoning. Today in your self-proclaimed sophistication HBs have even managed to justify mass murder on a scale that dwarfs all wars throughout time. World War III has been raging for almost 40 years with little attention. A crime against humanity of this magnitude can only be perpetuated with the blessing of a society that has been decieved with the lie that HBs can be me. I hear the cries of all of my little ones, LOs. I see their faces, I hear their screams. I am with them in their secret hiding place as they struggle for shelter from medical instruments that were intended to heal and not to destroy.

BC: My child, your laws have managed to turn the most precious dwelling place on earth into the most lethal. This has done great damage to HBs’ ability to truly recognize and appreciate the magnificence of my handiwork. You’ve managed to cheapen human life to the point to where it is viewed as disposable. When one of my LOs dies, it is as if a lance has pierced my heart.

EO: Give me a break!

CS: But BC, where have you been for the last 38 years? Aren’t you aware that some of our brightest legal and political minds, by using the intelligence that you gave us, have already established that your LOs are not HBs? They’re fetuses. And as such, they really don’t deserve any human rights whatsoever. Unless of course we deem them worthy. So what’s the big deal? Women are the gatekeepers of life, not you. I’m sorry BC but we can’t give up that right. We’ve evolved too far, we can’t go backwards now.

EO: Way to be strong! Hold your ground, don’t give in.

RB: I’m not really sure how I feel about all that. I mean medical science has indeed proved that beyond a doubt your LOs are really HBs and that they are being destroyed at an alarming rate. However I’m still kind of in the middle on that whole issue.

BC: I know my daughter. (another tear begins to form in BC’s eye)

RB: But I am sure that HBs should be able to tell you when we want you to be part of the act of creating another HB. I realize that you are the Author of life and all but we should take some control of creation, right? We’re intelligent enough to know when we want you to participate in the holy act of creating another HB and when you should just stay out of our human intimacy, even though you created it.

BC: My dear Rene, when HBs try to take my place and make themselves the author of life they unwittingly tamper with my wise design. And they do so with great cultural consequences; economically, ecologically, biologically, and sociologically. A mere eighty years ago MC predicted some of these very problems that plague society today as never before in human history. MC voiced concerns back then and still today, but very few listen.

EO: I agree with Rene, why shouldn’t HBs be like you if they desire it?

CS: Speaking of cultural issues, I really take issue with people who are under the impression that you intended only male and female HBs to marry each other. Obviously you designed male and female HBs differently, but as long as we’re compassionate and loving people, what’s the big deal who marries whom? Your OBS said absolutely nothing about this issue the entire 33 years that he was here.

BC: My child, if you believe in the Trinity than you would realize that my OBS and I had much to say about my plan for male and female relationships. Because of that day in the Garden many things are not as they were intended to be. All HBs are affected by sin, and all HBs are loved by me more than they realize. Because of my NL most HBs possess the ability to distinguish right from wrong, between what pleases me and what hurts me, and between what is true and what is a lie. But the choice is still theirs. Some HBs carry a heavier cross than others. But all HBs are called to struggle against what this world tells them and toward what I have written on their hearts.

CS: But why should people suffer if they don’t have to? If another person makes me happy and enriches my life why does it make a difference who they are?

BC: My dear child, listen to these words;

“The tolerance that admits God as it were as a private opinion but refuses him the public domain, the reality of the world and of our lives, is not tolerance but hypocrisy. But nowhere that the human being makes himself the one Lord of the world and owner of himself can justice exist. There, it is only the desire for power and private interests that can prevail.”

CS: Those are good words!

RB: I agree, who said them?

BC: MV fromRome.

RB:Rome! I don’t know about that. .

CS: Are you crazy? What on earth does that celibate old man in Rome know about human relationships?

BC: My precious daughters, my design and plan for the survival and salvation of the human race is perfect and complete. It does not require adjustment from you. Can you not see what the past 50 years of your misguided social experimentations have wrought? Did you not hear and understand MV? “Nowhere that the HB makes himself the one Lord of the world and owner of himself can justice exist…only the desire for power and private interests.” I beg you my children, abide in me. I need your powerful voices desperately. I love you.

CS: You are certainly a Brilliant Creator, that’s for sure. But we just thought that in the areas of love, marriage, life and death that you could use a bit of help from us. I mean nobody’s prefect. Right?

Ever hear on the news or read in the paper about violence between live-in girlfriends and boyfriends? The stories are quit frequent. What pushes these ex-lovers to the point where they would actually do harm to each other? Sexual sin, fornication and adultery are nothing new. We’ve been pooh-poohing the sixth commandment forever, so we foolishly devise short-sighted solutions like contraception and abortion to help us legitimize such behavior. It is clear what this behavior and those solutions have done to our culture over the past four decades. God did not make up those commandments to take away our freedom; quite the contrary, when we listen to God’s “Natural Law” and behave within the protection of His loving arms, we become very liberated and free.Author Christopher West says that the “one flesh union” between husband and wife is so powerful that it parallels the relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Because between the Father and the Son there is so much love, out of this proceeds the Holy Spirit. So it is between husband and wife during the marital embrace. For out of this act is the possibility of

another life. Author Dr. Janet Smith says that God also intended the one flesh union to securely bond husband and wife to better withstand life’s inevitable tribulations. In 1960 a young priest named Fr. Karol Wojtyla, better known as John Paul II, wrote in his incredible book Love and Responsibilitythat the one flesh union contributes to the “durability and cohesiveness” of the marriage.Having a better understanding of ourselves through Natural Law, it is very easy to see why people behave as they do. God intended the one flesh union to be exclusive between husband and wife. It is a wonderful, powerful and holy gift from our Eternal Lover. It gives married people intense physical pleasure, provides for security in marriage and allows us to participate in the creation of another human being. Can there be any question as to why there are so many relationship problems when we treat this wonderful gift as anything less than what it was intended?
When we treat one another as automobiles instead of magnificent creations of God, taking each other out for ‘test drives’ in bed and then returning the models that we’re not happy with, we’re gonna have problems.